Sad news today :
The chicken God has visited - I let the girls out this morning and they were all fine and doing their thing. Checked them tonight and Gerty my lead hen my beautiful Maran lay dead on the ground in the pen. She had rigor so had been dead a while. I scooped her up and we took her inside. We took feathers from her (which we didn;t do with the hens that died from the cold over winter as they were sick and I want to make an indian head dress for wee Jess with the feathers. ) Then DH and I had a cuddle with her and a cry and last minuite words. I told her I was sorry not to have found her earlier and that she was with her sister Bertha now in chicken heaven. She has soooo missed Bertha and would not roost since she died and only slept in the nest box where Bertha slept since her foot injury a few years back. - Poor thing must have grieved so much she just had a heart attack and dropped. There was no sign of illness or injury and when I checked the egg box there was just one egg, it was her last gift. It was Gertys egg. I am very sad indeed. This is the 4th hen weve lost since Feb. So I hope we get a new generation of chickies comming through from the eggs we set this month. I only have two hens left from the original 6 now - only Isobella and Caroline. How sad is that!!!!
Then I have Mable and Betty (sisters) who are Bertha's chicks but are genetically Isobellas. (Some of you may remember they are the chicks that were squashed when Bertha brooded them for a record 18 weeks!) The other two are rescue Rhode Islands reds Sisters Flourence/ flourentine! And Aggy / agnes.
Gerty was very special in her own way. Some of you may remember she was the hen that went broody at the same time as her sister Bertha and ended up killing all her own chicks but letting baby mice run through her feathers unchecked. In stead she attacked me for shooing them away! She always made me smile and was very good with the protection of the flock. Only two days before Bertha died she and her sister were laying in a sand whole by the fence and Gerty chased Florry away and pecked her for disterbing her sick sister. Bertha and Gerty were very close and I will miss them both very much indeed but I have great memories of them both - like when we got in the loan of a cockerel and Gerty beat him up sooooo bad and yet two of the chicks looked suspiciously like Gerty and Bertha???????? The other two were girls and very much look like Isobella whom I think will take the role of lead hen now.
Bertha the sussex who died this year here with her chicks. Note the front one is very much a Maran colouring! Also to the rear you can clearly see the Red feathering of a red sussex chick. They are 18 weeks old in this pic! Still being sat on by mom!
My Gerty who sadly passed away today.
Oes
The chicken God has visited - I let the girls out this morning and they were all fine and doing their thing. Checked them tonight and Gerty my lead hen my beautiful Maran lay dead on the ground in the pen. She had rigor so had been dead a while. I scooped her up and we took her inside. We took feathers from her (which we didn;t do with the hens that died from the cold over winter as they were sick and I want to make an indian head dress for wee Jess with the feathers. ) Then DH and I had a cuddle with her and a cry and last minuite words. I told her I was sorry not to have found her earlier and that she was with her sister Bertha now in chicken heaven. She has soooo missed Bertha and would not roost since she died and only slept in the nest box where Bertha slept since her foot injury a few years back. - Poor thing must have grieved so much she just had a heart attack and dropped. There was no sign of illness or injury and when I checked the egg box there was just one egg, it was her last gift. It was Gertys egg. I am very sad indeed. This is the 4th hen weve lost since Feb. So I hope we get a new generation of chickies comming through from the eggs we set this month. I only have two hens left from the original 6 now - only Isobella and Caroline. How sad is that!!!!
Gerty was very special in her own way. Some of you may remember she was the hen that went broody at the same time as her sister Bertha and ended up killing all her own chicks but letting baby mice run through her feathers unchecked. In stead she attacked me for shooing them away! She always made me smile and was very good with the protection of the flock. Only two days before Bertha died she and her sister were laying in a sand whole by the fence and Gerty chased Florry away and pecked her for disterbing her sick sister. Bertha and Gerty were very close and I will miss them both very much indeed but I have great memories of them both - like when we got in the loan of a cockerel and Gerty beat him up sooooo bad and yet two of the chicks looked suspiciously like Gerty and Bertha???????? The other two were girls and very much look like Isobella whom I think will take the role of lead hen now.
Bertha the sussex who died this year here with her chicks. Note the front one is very much a Maran colouring! Also to the rear you can clearly see the Red feathering of a red sussex chick. They are 18 weeks old in this pic! Still being sat on by mom!
My Gerty who sadly passed away today.
Oes
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